DARK DARK GALLERY
Media City Film Festival’s Dark Dark Gallery is a space where filmmakers, curators, and other practitioners can explore concepts and thematic exhibitions that connect with the history of experimental cinema and contemporary moving image art. Dark Dark is also an avenue through which audiences can access special MCFF programming online.
Radical Acts of Care: Prologue
In recent years few keywords have been more urgent and utilized than “care.” Care in reference to systems of public and private health, care in relation to levels of social awareness and engagement, and care writ large as political warfare. That Old Testament directive “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is the essence of care. Secular dispositions would call it the “golden rule,” and the idea dates to at least the early Confucian times. Indeed this rule can be found in almost every ethical tradition, as well as all the major religions in the world. Unfortunately, as the vernacular adaptation goes, those with the gold make the rules—but they do not always abide by them. As such this exhibition is concerned with radical praxis, with care as a countermeasure and agent for social change.
Unfolding in a sequence of discrete acts, this exhibition is a modest survey of past and contemporary artistic mobilizations of care in various forms. That care should be considered a radical act is somehow taken for granted in the global moment we are currently embroiled in—because the planet has seen better days. But care is not a benign position or immaculate state of being, free of inequities and opportunistic manipulation. As the anthropologist Shannon Mattern has written, we are never far from three endearing truths when considering the scales and dimensions of care: “1. maintainers require care; 2. caregiving requires maintenance; 3. the distinctions between these practices are shaped by race, gender, class and other political, economic, and cultural forces.” The artists assembled here as part of this exhibition make it their passionate business to interrogate the contours of these distinctions.
“Power,” a poem by Audre Lorde, opens with the following lines: “The difference between poetry and rhetoric / is being ready to kill / yourself / instead of your children.” This is certainly a distinction with resonance in this calamitous twenty-first century. Here is another poetic proposition with timeless relevance, from Folio 31a of the Babylonian Talmud: “That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is commentary. Go study.” Because the aspiration to knowledge and understanding of your fellow human beings is the most radical act of all. —Greg de Cuir Jr.
Exhibition acknowledgments: Radical Acts of Care (online version) is curated by Greg de Cuir Jr., and co-organized and designed by Oona Mosna. The concept was inspired by the legacy of Dr. Charles H. Wright, practicing physician (1943–1986), and founder of The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and Culture in Detroit. Radical Acts of Care is made possible by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Knight Arts Foundation, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and with support from local donors and supporters. I Am Somebody by Madeline Anderson provided by Icarus Films with special thanks to Livia Bloom Ingram. The digital version of The House Is Black by Forough Farrokhzad is restored by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and Ecran Noir productions. North American screening rights for the film provided by Janus Films / The Criterion Collection with extra special thanks to Brian Belovarac. Custom frame enlargements of The House Is Black provided by the Austrian Film Museum with assistance from Christoph Etzlsdorfer and Marcus Eberhardt. Thanks also to Jurij Meden of the Austrian Film Museum. Thank you to Tobias Hering and Carsten Spicher from Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Patrick Friel (Chicago), and the film and media art staff at the Block Museum for source recommendations. Special thanks to Aryan Kaganof of herri (South Africa). Untitled (M*A*S*H) by Simone Leigh courtesy of the artist. Special thanks to Emily Knapp and Rebecca Adib of Studio Simone Leigh, and Sophie Treharne Nurse of Hauser & Wirth for providing materials. Website programming and technical poetries by Eric Brockman of Space and Subject Creative. Technical assistance for moving image materials provided by Brandon Walley and Podcast technician and producer: Mike McGonigal of Maggot Brain Magazine. Special thank you to James King, Senior Technical Manager, TIFF Bell LightBox and Toronto International Film Festival, along with Eric Rosset and staff at CineSend. Rights, permissions for stills, artworks, portraits, and poems are identified throughout this multi-gallery show. If not otherwise acknowledged, all additional materials courtesy of participating artists. We thank them for their contributions.
This show is dedicated to Konstantin Antony. May he grow to be curious, and sensitive, and radical, a reader, and anti-war, and adventurous, and kind.
Greg de Cuir Jr.
Greg de Cuir Jr. is an independent curator, writer, and translator who lives and works in Belgrade, Serbia. In 2020 he has organized programs for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Anthology Film Archives (New York), Eye Filmmuseum (Amsterdam), and Kino Arsenal (Berlin), among others. Selected projects at linktr.ee/decuir_international Portrait by Ephraim Asili
Radical Acts of Care: Prologue
In recent years few keywords have been more urgent and utilized than “care.” Care in reference to systems of public and private health, care in relation to levels of social awareness and engagement, and care writ large as political warfare. That Old Testament directive “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is the essence of care. Secular dispositions would call it the “golden rule,” and the idea dates to at least the early Confucian times. Indeed this rule can be found in almost every ethical tradition, as well as all the major religions in the world. Unfortunately, as the vernacular adaptation goes, those with the gold make the rules—but they do not always abide by them. As such this exhibition is concerned with radical praxis, with care as a countermeasure and agent for social change.
Unfolding in a sequence of discrete acts, this exhibition is a modest survey of past and contemporary artistic mobilizations of care in various forms. That care should be considered a radical act is somehow taken for granted in the global moment we are currently embroiled in—because the planet has seen better days. But care is not a benign position or immaculate state of being, free of inequities and opportunistic manipulation. As the anthropologist Shannon Mattern has written, we are never far from three endearing truths when considering the scales and dimensions of care: “1. maintainers require care; 2. caregiving requires maintenance; 3. the distinctions between these practices are shaped by race, gender, class and other political, economic, and cultural forces.” The artists assembled here as part of this exhibition make it their passionate business to interrogate the contours of these distinctions.
“Power,” a poem by Audre Lorde, opens with the following lines: “The difference between poetry and rhetoric / is being ready to kill / yourself / instead of your children.” This is certainly a distinction with resonance in this calamitous twenty-first century. Here is another poetic proposition with timeless relevance, from Folio 31a of the Babylonian Talmud: “That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is commentary. Go study.” Because the aspiration to knowledge and understanding of your fellow human beings is the most radical act of all. —Greg de Cuir Jr.
Exhibition acknowledgments: Radical Acts of Care (online version) is curated by Greg de Cuir Jr., and co-organized and designed by Oona Mosna. The concept was inspired by the legacy of Dr. Charles H. Wright, practicing physician (1943–1986), and founder of The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and Culture in Detroit. Radical Acts of Care is made possible by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Knight Arts Foundation, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and with support from local donors and supporters. I Am Somebody by Madeline Anderson provided by Icarus Films with special thanks to Livia Bloom Ingram. The digital version of The House Is Black by Forough Farrokhzad is restored by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and Ecran Noir productions. North American screening rights for the film provided by Janus Films / The Criterion Collection with extra special thanks to Brian Belovarac. Custom frame enlargements of The House Is Black provided by the Austrian Film Museum with assistance from Christoph Etzlsdorfer and Marcus Eberhardt. Thanks also to Jurij Meden of the Austrian Film Museum. Thank you to Tobias Hering and Carsten Spicher from Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Patrick Friel (Chicago), and the film and media art staff at the Block Museum for source recommendations. Special thanks to Aryan Kaganof of herri (South Africa). Untitled (M*A*S*H) by Simone Leigh courtesy of the artist. Special thanks to Emily Knapp and Rebecca Adib of Studio Simone Leigh, and Sophie Treharne Nurse of Hauser & Wirth for providing materials. Website programming and technical poetries by Eric Brockman of Space and Subject Creative. Technical assistance for moving image materials provided by Brandon Walley and Podcast technician and producer: Mike McGonigal of Maggot Brain Magazine. Special thank you to James King, Senior Technical Manager, TIFF Bell LightBox and Toronto International Film Festival, along with Eric Rosset and staff at CineSend. Rights, permissions for stills, artworks, portraits, and poems are identified throughout this multi-gallery show. If not otherwise acknowledged, all additional materials courtesy of participating artists. We thank them for their contributions.
This show is dedicated to Konstantin Antony. May he grow to be curious, and sensitive, and radical, a reader, and anti-war, and adventurous, and kind.
Greg de Cuir Jr.
Greg de Cuir Jr. is an independent curator, writer, and translator who lives and works in Belgrade, Serbia. In 2020 he has organized programs for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Anthology Film Archives (New York), Eye Filmmuseum (Amsterdam), and Kino Arsenal (Berlin), among others. Selected projects at linktr.ee/decuir_international Portrait by Ephraim Asili
Forough Farrokhzad
Forough Farrokhzad (1934–1967) was born in Tehran, and is considered one of Iran's most significant poets. Her poems describe a nuanced female point of view and life experience with aching beauty and deep passion. Farrokhzad published multiple volumes in her lifetime, including Reborn (1964), her fourth collection, considered a major achievement at the time. Her short, poetic documentary The House is Black (1962) is a landmark of Iranian cinema and the modern documentary in general. It is the only film she directed in her short lifetime. Farrokhzad died tragically in a car accident in 1967. Her poetry remained banned for more than two decades after the Islamic Revolution.
Madeline Anderson
Madeline Anderson earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from New York University. She began her film career in the late 1950s as a production manager and editor, working for legendary filmmakers Richard Leacock and Shirley Clarke. In 1960, Anderson directed Integration Report One, which is widely considered to be the first documentary directed by a Black woman in the United States. Anderson was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame (1993) and was an honoree of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (2018). Her film I Am Somebody was inducted into the canon of the Center for African American Media Arts at the Smithsonian that same year. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Portrait of Madeline Anderson (above and landing slide): Myrna Suarez
Forough Farrokhzad
Forough Farrokhzad (1934–1967) was born in Tehran, and is considered one of Iran's most significant poets. Her poems describe a nuanced female point of view and life experience with aching beauty and deep passion. Farrokhzad published multiple volumes in her lifetime, including Reborn (1964), her fourth collection, considered a major achievement at the time. Her short, poetic documentary The House is Black (1962) is a landmark of Iranian cinema and the modern documentary in general. It is the only film she directed in her short lifetime. Farrokhzad died tragically in a car accident in 1967. Her poetry remained banned for more than two decades after the Islamic Revolution.
Madeline Anderson
Madeline Anderson earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from New York University. She began her film career in the late 1950s as a production manager and editor, working for legendary filmmakers Richard Leacock and Shirley Clarke. In 1960, Anderson directed Integration Report One, which is widely considered to be the first documentary directed by a Black woman in the United States. Anderson was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame (1993) and was an honoree of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (2018). Her film I Am Somebody was inducted into the canon of the Center for African American Media Arts at the Smithsonian that same year. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Portrait of Madeline Anderson (above and landing slide): Myrna Suarez
Cauleen Smith
Cauleen Smith’s films, objects, and installations have been featured in group exhibitions at the Studio Museum of Harlem (New York), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), the New Museum (New York), and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago). She has had solo shows at The Kitchen (New York), the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia). Smith is the recipient of multiple awards and fellowships including the inaugural Ellsworth Kelly Award of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Herb Alpert Award. She has received a Creative Capital grant, a Rauschenberg Residency; the Black Metropolis Research Consortium Research Fellowship, and the Director’s Grant at the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts. Smith teaches at CalArts in Los Angeles. Portrait of Cauleen Smith (above): 3Arts
Cauleen Smith
Cauleen Smith’s films, objects, and installations have been featured in group exhibitions at the Studio Museum of Harlem (New York), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), the New Museum (New York), and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago). She has had solo shows at The Kitchen (New York), the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia). Smith is the recipient of multiple awards and fellowships including the inaugural Ellsworth Kelly Award of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Herb Alpert Award. She has received a Creative Capital grant, a Rauschenberg Residency; the Black Metropolis Research Consortium Research Fellowship, and the Director’s Grant at the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts. Smith teaches at CalArts in Los Angeles. Portrait of Cauleen Smith (above): 3Arts
Simone Leigh
Simone Leigh’s practice incorporates sculpture, video, and installation; all are informed by her ongoing exploration of Black female-identified subjectivity. Recent projects and exhibitions include participation in the Whitney Biennial (2019), The Waiting Room (2016) at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, The Free People’s Medical Clinic (2014), a project commissioned by Creative Time (New York); and a solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2017). Leigh is the first artist to be commissioned for the High Line Plinth (New York), where her monumental sculpture Brick House was unveiled in April 2019. Loophole of Retreat, a major solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, commemorated Leigh's achievements as the winner of the Hugo Boss Prize in 2018. Portrait of Simone Leigh (above): Kyle Knodell
Simone Leigh
Simone Leigh’s practice incorporates sculpture, video, and installation; all are informed by her ongoing exploration of Black female-identified subjectivity. Recent projects and exhibitions include participation in the Whitney Biennial (2019), The Waiting Room (2016) at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, The Free People’s Medical Clinic (2014), a project commissioned by Creative Time (New York); and a solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2017). Leigh is the first artist to be commissioned for the High Line Plinth (New York), where her monumental sculpture Brick House was unveiled in April 2019. Loophole of Retreat, a major solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, commemorated Leigh's achievements as the winner of the Hugo Boss Prize in 2018. Portrait of Simone Leigh (above): Kyle Knodell
Marietjie Pauw
Marietjie Pauw obtained a doctoral degree in music at the University of Stellenbosch in 2015. Her artistic research engages with the curating and performance of South African flute compositions, and free improvisation, as decolonial aesthetics. She is a post-doctoral researcher at Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation, University of Stellenbosch. Since 2015 her improvisatory work with sonic and visual Khoi activist artist Garth Erasmus has created openings into exploring decolonial, site-specific aspects of music-making.Garth Erasmus
Garth Erasmus is a visual artist and musician. One of his large-scale mural artworks is included in an installation depicting first peoples of the Western Cape at Artscape Theatre, Cape Town. His audio installation Autshumato is at the Robben Island Museum (Nelson Mandela Gateway, Cape Town). Garth is part of the activist music and poetry group Khoi Khonnexion, who toured European music festivals in 2018-19. He is also part of the free jazz group As Is.
Double portrait of Marietjie Pauw and Garth Erasmus (above): Aryan Kaganof
Marietjie Pauw
Marietjie Pauw obtained a doctoral degree in music at the University of Stellenbosch in 2015. Her artistic research engages with the curating and performance of South African flute compositions, and free improvisation, as decolonial aesthetics. She is a post-doctoral researcher at Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation, University of Stellenbosch. Since 2015 her improvisatory work with sonic and visual Khoi activist artist Garth Erasmus has created openings into exploring decolonial, site-specific aspects of music-making.Garth Erasmus
Garth Erasmus is a visual artist and musician. One of his large-scale mural artworks is included in an installation depicting first peoples of the Western Cape at Artscape Theatre, Cape Town. His audio installation Autshumato is at the Robben Island Museum (Nelson Mandela Gateway, Cape Town). Garth is part of the activist music and poetry group Khoi Khonnexion, who toured European music festivals in 2018-19. He is also part of the free jazz group As Is.
Double portrait of Marietjie Pauw and Garth Erasmus (above): Aryan Kaganof
Forough Farrokhzad
Forough Farrokhzad (1934–1967) was born in Tehran, and is considered one of Iran's most significant poets. Her poems describe a nuanced female point of view and life experience with aching beauty and deep passion. Farrokhzad published multiple volumes in her lifetime, including Reborn (1964), her fourth collection, considered a major achievement at the time. Her short, poetic documentary The House is Black (1962) is a landmark of Iranian cinema and the modern documentary in general. It is the only film she directed in her short lifetime. Farrokhzad died tragically in a car accident in 1967. Her poetry remained banned for more than two decades after the Islamic Revolution. Portrait of Forough Farrokhzad (above): Ebrahim Golestan
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde, also known as Gamba Adisa or Rey Domini (1934–1992), was an American poet, essayist, and autobiographer celebrated for her passionate writings on Black lesbian feminism, the importance of the struggle for liberation among oppressed peoples, and of organizing in coalition across differences of race, gender, sexual orientation, class, age, and ability. Her numerous publications include The First Cities (1968), From a Land Where Other People Live (1973), Hanging Fire (1978), The Black Unicorn (1978) The Cancer Journals (1980), A Burst of Light (1988), and many others, including the recent posthumous collection Your Silence Will Not Protect You, published by Silver Press (2017). Portrait of Audre Lorde (above): Dagmar Schultz
Forough Farrokhzad
Forough Farrokhzad (1934–1967) was born in Tehran, and is considered one of Iran's most significant poets. Her poems describe a nuanced female point of view and life experience with aching beauty and deep passion. Farrokhzad published multiple volumes in her lifetime, including Reborn (1964), her fourth collection, considered a major achievement at the time. Her short, poetic documentary The House is Black (1962) is a landmark of Iranian cinema and the modern documentary in general. It is the only film she directed in her short lifetime. Farrokhzad died tragically in a car accident in 1967. Her poetry remained banned for more than two decades after the Islamic Revolution. Portrait of Forough Farrokhzad (above): Ebrahim Golestan
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde, also known as Gamba Adisa or Rey Domini (1934–1992), was an American poet, essayist, and autobiographer celebrated for her passionate writings on Black lesbian feminism, the importance of the struggle for liberation among oppressed peoples, and of organizing in coalition across differences of race, gender, sexual orientation, class, age, and ability. Her numerous publications include The First Cities (1968), From a Land Where Other People Live (1973), Hanging Fire (1978), The Black Unicorn (1978) The Cancer Journals (1980), A Burst of Light (1988), and many others, including the recent posthumous collection Your Silence Will Not Protect You, published by Silver Press (2017). Portrait of Audre Lorde (above): Dagmar Schultz
Kelly Gallagher
Kelly Gallagher is a filmmaker and animator. She is Assistant Professor of Film at Syracuse University. Her award-winning films and commissioned animation projects have screened internationally at venues including The Museum of Modern Art (New York), National Gallery of Art (Washington DC), Sundance Film Festival, the Smithsonian, Ann Arbor Film Festival, and Sheffield Doc Fest. She has presented solo shows of her work at UnionDocs (NYC), Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus), and Sight Unseen (Baltimore), among many others. Gallagher enthusiastically organizes and facilitates film workshops, camps, and master classes for communities and groups of all ages.
Kelly Gallagher
Kelly Gallagher is a filmmaker and animator. She is Assistant Professor of Film at Syracuse University. Her award-winning films and commissioned animation projects have screened internationally at venues including The Museum of Modern Art (New York), National Gallery of Art (Washington DC), Sundance Film Festival, the Smithsonian, Ann Arbor Film Festival, and Sheffield Doc Fest. She has presented solo shows of her work at UnionDocs (NYC), Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus), and Sight Unseen (Baltimore), among many others. Gallagher enthusiastically organizes and facilitates film workshops, camps, and master classes for communities and groups of all ages.
Pirate Care
Pirate Care is a transnational project connecting activists, scholars, and practitioners working on the collective practices of care that are emerging in response to the current "crisis of care." These initiatives are experimenting with forms of self-organization, alternative approaches to social reproduction, and the commoning of tools. Their project specifically aims to activate collective learning processes from the situated knowledge of these practices.